1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for molding soft sheet material which provides increased yield and enables waste material to be recycled.
2. Description of the Related Art
Soft sheet materials are used broadly as ornamental material such as a typical automobile pillar (see FIG. 9 described later) and the like.
FIGS. 18-20 are explanatory views for describing a conventional method of molding soft sheet material.
The soft sheet material 10 is composed of a skin layer 11 on a foam layer or foam sheet 12 as shown in FIGS. 19 and 20.
The skin layer, shown exclusively in FIG. 18 is formed of sludge skin or the like. The foam layer 12 formed of urethane resin or vinyl chloride resin is injected and insert molded to the back surface of skin layer 11 to produce the soft sheet material 10 shown in FIG. 19.
After molding soft sheet material 10 into a particular shape such as an automobile pillar, a waste part 19 is cut off and removed by a trimming device 5 such as a hot knife as shown in FIG. 20.
After molding and cutting, a base layer 13 formed of hard urethane resin or acrylonitrilebutadiene-styrene (ABS) resin may be injected or insert molded to the back surface of foam layer 12.
The conventional method, however, has the problem that since the waste part 19 is a combination of skin layer 11 and foam layer 12 heat fused together, the layers cannot be separated after molding. Therefore, foam layer 12 and skin layer 11 cannot be recycled and used for reproduction individually, resulting in decreased yield.